Mark 10

Mr 10:1-12.

FINAL

DEPARTURE FROM

GALILEE--DIVORCE.

Mt 19:1-12;

Lu 9:51).

See on

Mt 19:1-12.

Mr 10:13-16.

LITTLE

CHILDREN

BROUGHT TO

CHRIST.

Mt 19:13-15;

Lu 18:15-17).

See on

Lu 18:15-17.

Mr 10:17-31.

THE

RICH

YOUNG

RULER.

Mt 19:16-30;

Lu 18:18-30).

See on

Lu 18:18-30.

Mr 10:32-45.

THIRD

EXPLICIT AND

STILL

FULLER

ANNOUNCEMENT OF

HIS

APPROACHING

SUFFERINGS,

DEATH, AND

RESURRECTION--THE

AMBITIOUS

REQUEST OF

JAMES AND

JOHN, AND THE

REPLY.

Mt 20:17-28;

Lu 18:31-34).

Third Announcement of His approaching Sufferings, Death, and

Resurrection

(Mr 10:32-34).

32. And they were in the way--on the road.

going up to Jerusalem--in Perea, and probably somewhere between

Ephraim and Jericho, on the farther side of the Jordan, and to the

northeast of Jerusalem.

and Jesus went before them--as GROTIUS says, in the style of an

intrepid Leader.

and they were amazed--or "struck with astonishment" at His courage

in advancing to certain death.

and as they followed, they were afraid--for their own safety. These

artless, lifelike touches--not only from an eye-witness, but one whom

the noble carriage of the Master struck with wonder and awe--are

peculiar to Mark, and give the second Gospel a charm all its own; making

us feel as if we ourselves were in the midst of the scenes it describes.

Well might the poet exclaim:

"The Saviour, what a noble flame

Was kindled in His breast,

When, hasting to Jerusalem,

He march'd before the rest!"

COWPER

And he took again the twelve--referring to His previous announcements

on this sad subject.

and began to tell them what things should happen unto him--"were going

to befall Him." The word expresses something already begun but not

brought to a head, rather than something wholly future.

33. Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem--for the last time, and--"all

things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall

be accomplished"

(Lu 18:31).

the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto the

scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to

the Gentiles--This is the first express statement that the Gentiles

would combine with the Jews in His death; the two grand divisions of the

human race for whom He died thus taking part in crucifying the Lord of

Glory, as WEBSTER and

WILKINSON observe.

34. And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit

upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise

again--Singularly explicit as this announcement was, Luke

(Lu 18:34)

says "they understood none of these things; and this saying was hid

from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." The meaning

of the words they could be at no loss to understand, but their import

in relation to His Messianic kingdom they could not penetrate; the

whole prediction being right in the teeth of their preconceived

notions. That they should have clung so tenaciously to the popular

notion of an "unsuffering" Messiah, may surprise us; but it

gives inexpressible weight to their after-testimony to a suffering and

dying Saviour.

Ambitious Request of James and John--The Reply

(Mr 10:35-45).

35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him,

saying--Matthew

(Mt 20:20)

says their "mother came to Him with her sons, worshipping Him and

desiring," &c. (Compare

Mt 27:56,

with Mr 15:40).

Salome was her name

(Mr 16:1).

We cannot be sure with which of the parties the movement originated;

but as our Lord, even in Matthew's account, addresses Himself to James

and John, taking no account of the mother, it is likely the mother was

merely set on by them. The thought was doubtless suggested to her sons

of man should sit on the throne of His glory"

(Mt 19:28);

but after the reproof so lately given them

(Mr 9:33,

&c.) they get their mother to speak for them.

Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall

desire--thus cautiously approaching the subject.

36. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?--Though well aware what was in their mind and their mother's, our Lord

will have the unseemly petition uttered before all.

37. Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the

other on thy left hand, in thy glory--that is, Assign to us the two

places of highest honor in the coming kingdom. The semblance of a plea

for so presumptuous a request might possibly have been drawn from the

fact that one of the two usually leaned on the breast of Jesus, or sat

next Him at meals, while the other was one of the favored three.

38. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask--How gentle the

reply to such a request, preferred at such a time, after the sad

announcement just made!

can ye drink of the cup that I drink of?--To "drink of a cup" is in

Scripture a figure for getting one's fill either of good

(Ps 16:5; 23:5; 116:13;

Jer 16:7)

or of ill

(Ps 75:8;

Joh 18:11;

Re 14:10).

Here it is the cup of suffering.

and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized

with?--(Compare for the language,

Ps 42:7).

The object of this question seems to have been to try how far those two

men were capable of the dignity to which they aspired and this

on the principle that he who is able to suffer most for His sake will

be the nearest to Him in His kingdom.

39. And they said unto him, We can--Here we see them owning

their mother's petition for them as their own; and doubtless they were

perfectly sincere in professing their willingness to follow their

Master to any suffering He might have to endure. As for James,

he was the first of the apostles who was honored, and showed himself

able to be baptized with his Master's baptism of blood

(Ac 12:1, 2);

while John, after going through all the persecutions to which

the infant Church was exposed from the Jews, and sharing in the

struggles and sufferings occasioned by the first triumphs of the Gospel

among the Gentiles, lived to be the victim, after all the rest had got

to glory, of a bitter persecution in the evening of his days, for the

word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Yes, they were dear

believers and blessed men, in spite of this unworthy ambition, and

their Lord knew it; and perhaps the foresight of what they would have

to pass through, and the courageous testimony He would yet receive from

them, was the cause of that gentleness which we cannot but wonder at in

His reproof.

And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink

of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be

baptized--No doubt this prediction, when their sufferings at length

came upon them, cheered them with the assurance, not that they would sit

on His right and left hand--for of that thought they would be heartily

ashamed--but that "if they suffered with Him, they should be also

glorified together."

40. But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand in not mine to

give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared--"of My

Father"

(Mt 20:23).

The supplement which our translators have inserted is approved by some

good interpreters, and the proper sense of the word rendered "but" is

certainly in favor of it. But besides that it makes the statement too

elliptical--leaving too many words to be supplied--it seems to make our

Lord repudiate the right to assign to each of His people his place in

the kingdom of glory; a thing which He nowhere else does, but rather

the contrary. It is true that He says their place is "prepared for them

and yet from His great white throne Jesus will Himself adjudicate the

kingdom, and authoritatively invite into it those on His right hand,

calling them the "blessed of His Father"; so little inconsistency is

there between the eternal choice of them by His Father, and that public

adjudication of them, not only to heaven in general, but each to his

own position in it, which all Scripture assigns to Christ. The true

rendering, then, of this clause, we take it, is this: "But to sit on My

right hand and on My left hand is not Mine to give, save to them for

whom it is prepared." When therefore He says, "It is not Mine to give,"

the meaning is, "I cannot give it as a favor to whomsoever I

please, or on a principle of favoritism; it belongs

exclusively to those for whom it is prepared," &c. And if this be His

meaning, it will be seen how far our Lord is from disclaiming the right

to assign to each his proper place in His Kingdom; that on the

contrary, He expressly asserts it, merely announcing that the principle

of distribution is quite different from what these petitioners

supposed. Our Lord, it will be observed, does not deny the

petition of James and John, or say they shall not occupy the

place in His kingdom which they now improperly sought:--for aught we

know, that may be their true place. All we are sure of is, that

their asking it was displeasing to Him "to whom all judgment is

committed," and so was not fitted to gain their object, but just the

reverse. (See what is taught in

Lu 14:8-11).

One at least of these brethren, as ALFORD

strikingly remarks, saw on the right and on the left hand of their

Lord, as He hung upon the tree, the crucified thieves; and bitter

indeed must have been the remembrance of this ambitious prayer at that

moment.

41. And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with

James and John--or "were moved with indignation," as the same word is

rendered in

Mt 20:24.

The expression "began to be," which is of frequent occurrence in

the Gospels, means that more passed than is expressed, and that we have

but the result. And can we blame the ten for the indignation which they

felt? Yet there was probably a spice of the old spirit of rivalry in

it, which in spite of our Lord's recent lengthened, diversified, and

most solemn warnings against it, had not ceased to stir in their

breasts.

42. But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that

they which are accounted to rule--are recognized or acknowledged as

rulers.

over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them: and their great ones

exercise authority upon them--as superiors exercising an acknowledged

authority over inferiors.

43. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great

among you, shall be your minister--a subordinate servant.

44. And whosoever of you will be the chiefest--or "first."

shall be--that is, "let him be," or "shall be he who is prepared

to be."

servant of all--one in the lowest condition of service.

45. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to

minister, and to give his life a ransom for many--"instead of

many," that is, "In the kingdom about to be set up, this principle

shall have no place. All My servants shall there be equal; and the only

greatness known to it shall be the greatness of humility and

devotedness to the service of others. He that goes down the deepest in

these services of self-denying humility shall rise the highest and hold

the chiefest place in that kingdom; even as the Son of man, whose

abasement and self-sacrifice for others, transcending all, gives Him of

right a place above all!" As "the Word in the beginning with God," He

was ministered unto; and as the risen Redeemer in our nature He

now is ministered unto, "angels and authorities and powers being

made subject unto Him"

(1Pe 3:22);

but not for this came He hither. The Served of all came to be the

Servant of all; and His last act was the grandest Service ever beheld

RANSOM FOR MANY!", &c. "Many"

is here to be taken, not in contrast with few or with

all, but in opposition to one--the one Son of man for the

many sinners.

Mr 10:46-52.

BLIND

BARTIMAEUS

HEALED.

Mt 20:29-34;

Lu 18:35-43).

See on

Lu 18:35-43.